On-Site PD Course

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We recommend highly experienced BER presenters who have consistently received outstanding evaluations from educators attending their trainings.

We guarantee you’ll be fully satisfied or you’ll owe us nothing after your on-site training event.

Using Learning Centers To Differentiate Instruction

For All Students in Reading, Writing, Math, Science, and Social Studies
(Grades 1-3)

Presented by Cheryl Sweeney
Award‑Winning Educator and International Presenter

Specifically Designed for: First, Second, and Third Grade Teachers, Multiage Teachers, Instructional Aides, Title I Staff Members, Special Education Teachers, and Administrators

Innovative Learning Center ideas and activities that reinforce and extend reading, writing, math, science, and social studies skills for all learning levels in grades 1‑3

Learning Center ideas to help your emergent, early, developing, and fluent readers expand and explore key reading and writing skills across the curriculum

Practical Learning Center “menu” activities to meet the diverse needs of ALL your students including gifted and students with special needs

Demonstrations, video clips, displays, and an extensive resource handbook designed specifically for this seminar

Practical Ideas and Strategies

This seminar has been designed to answer the question, “What are the other students doing while I work with a small group?”

Cheryl Sweeney will present successful ways of using learning centers to reinforce and expand your whole group instruction. The focus will be on practical ways to set up, organize and keep your learning centers appropriate and interesting for all the levels you have in your classroom – from the students who struggle with new concepts to those who readily grasp and master key concepts and skills.

Many samples of activities and complete learning centers will be shared as well as modeled. Time‑management strategies and helpful shortcuts that help students extend and review material while saving you time are emphasized in this seminar.

You will leave with many practical, classroom‑tested learning activities that provide a wide range of learning opportunities while freeing you to work with smaller, flexible learning groups in grades 1‑3.

Ten Key Benefits of Attending

Learn How to Design Effective Learning Centers
How to design, plan and choose appropriate center activities that require limited preparation and maintenance time … Ideas for limited space and implementation of a rotation system ideal for grades 1‑3

Use Learning Centers to Enhance Your Reading Program
Practical ideas that will help expand the vocabulary, comprehension and fluency skills of your first through third graders … Learn about great literature tie‑in activities too

Develop Multilevel Activities to Challenge All Your Students from Gifted to Special Needs
Use learning centers to review and extend student learning … Cheryl will model how to meet the needs of all students by sharing open‑ended center activities in a variety of curricular areas

Create Learning Centers to Meet the Diverse Needs of Your Students
Classroom‑proven ideas for group and individual activities … Extension ideas for independent learning and review and practice ideas for instructional levels designed specifically for grades 1‑3

Help Students Be Time Manager and Build Accountability
Help your students become more independent learners … Effective techniques that incorporate record‑keeping strategies, management ideas and how to hold students accountable for their center work

Use Interactive Centers to Strengthen Student Learning
Work smarter, not harder and introduce centers such as poetry, listening, reading, writing, spelling, ABC word work, science, research, social studies, math, and more … Innovative ideas on how to keep these centers interesting, fresh and interactive for all learning levels

Design Ongoing Centers that Save You Time
Classroom‑tested activities for ongoing learning centers that incorporate reading and writing with classroom curriculum … Included in the handbook are samples of center menus ideal for grades 1‑3

Use Your Print‑Rich Classroom to Tie in Your Learning Centers
Make use of existing classroom charts and word walls, such as your high‑frequency word wall, vocabulary wall, help wall, name wall, and chunking wall as tie‑ins to your learning centers

Increase the Options in Your Classroom
This seminar has something for everyone, from first year teachers to seasoned professionals … Ideas will be shared which will help you effectively implement learning centers in your own grades 1‑3 classroom

A Message From Your Seminar Leader

Dear Colleague:

Have you wanted to try using Learning Centers to differentiate instruction but didn’t know how or where to begin? Have you tried centers before, only to abandon them later because they didn’t work, required too much prep time, were exhausting or difficult to manage? If so, this seminar is for you! During our day together, you will have the opportunity to learn about making effective Learning Centers for immediate classroom use.

Over the past 30 years, I have worked with many first, second and third grade students. Like all teachers, I gained knowledge firsthand by working with children, experimenting with Learning Centers and discovering what worked and why. Over time, I learned to build upon successful experiences, throw out what didn’t work, improve the centers, and develop time‑saving strategies that make centers manageable and differentiated to meet the needs of diverse classrooms.

The result of this work is this seminar and the practical resource handbook you’ll receive. Most importantly, the ideas I will share are based on current, best‑practice research, but the focus will be on how we can use these ideas in the real world of teaching! This seminar is designed to give you ideas to make Learning Centers that you can set‑up immediately and will meet the needs of all your learners. We will explore:

Classroom‑tested Learning Centers designed specifically for first through third grade

How to design and make centers that reinforce reading, writing, math, social studies, and science instruction

Centers that help expand vocabulary, comprehension and fluency

Multilevel learning center activities to meet the diverse needs of all your students

Whether you are a first year teacher or a highly experienced teacher, there will be something for you. The classroom‑tested, research‑based activities have all been designed specifically for first through third grade. I promise you’ll leave energized, excited and prepared to use learning centers in your diverse classroom.

Sincerely,
Cheryl Sweeney

Who Should Attend

Educators working with students in grades 1‑3: First, Second, and Third Grade Teachers, Reading Specialists, Multiage Teachers, Special Education Staff, Instructional Assistants, and Administrators.

Special Benefits of Attending

Extensive Resource Handbook
Each participant will receive an extensive resource handbook specifically designed for this seminar. Included in the handbook are:

Consultation Available
Cheryl Sweeney will be available at the seminar for consultation regarding your questions and the unique needs of your own program.

On-Site Training Guarantee

BER is not a booking agency that just finds a presenter who presents on the topic you requested. Rather, we only recommend highly experienced BER presenters who have consistently received outstanding evaluations from educators attending their trainings.

Consequently, we provide a strong program guarantee.

We guarantee you’ll be fully satisfied or you’ll owe us nothing after your on-site training event.